Michael McKean: Rock and roll takes itself very seriously.  It can.  It shouldn’t.  I mean, the people I’m attracted to like you know, the songwriters, especially Tom Waits and- and They Might Be Giants and Richard Thompson and Elvis Costello, Loudon Wainwright.  These are all people who are capable of breaking your heart, but they’re also practitioners in the- in the other- in the other thing.  I think all great songwriters can do both.  Randy Newman, he can tear your heart out, but he can also write a really, really funny song.  Noel Coward, same thing.  But there is something about the self-importance of this kind of bubble mentality.  I mean, when bands are on the road and you know, doing what they do, and making money, and- and scoring chicks and- and doing all this stuff, they don’t rea- really reference anything else in the world except     themselves.  They’re living in this kind of tunnel.  And I think that Chris- the- the films that Chris has done subsequent to “Spinal Tap” all have that in common.  You know, little theatre and the dog show and the- and the you know, the- the folk concert, it- it- it’s all about people taking themselves very seriously.  You know, if you’re not riding high, then your fall’s not amusing.  You know?  That’s why I- I- I’ve always felt that the idea of getting a laugh by trashing someone who’s beneath you is- it doesn’t appeal to me.  It’s- it’s kind of easy, you know?

Dick Cavett: I had written to him.  And he asked me to come out.  When the door opened, there was someone and it wasn’t quite Stan Laurel.  And then I noticed one ear.  And then it became Stan Laurel as I went back to the face.  And he had– I never knew if the speech impediment was his character’s speech or his own.  But he had what I think is called a bilateral sibilance.  So that it came, “Well, that– it certainly is nice to meet you.”  And then spent two enchanted hours with Stan Laurel. Talked about how he hated seeing the movies on the local channels during the day and during the morning and– and he said– ’cause they cut them up so badly and so stupidly and they kill jokes.  And the station that was running them– he offered to– go in and cut them for them and reedit them so they’d be funnier.  He said, “But they never bothered to answer my letters, so I never did– “  Some 15 something employee probably thought– “There’s some old fart wants to come in and edit his movies or– “

Tommy Smothers: When Dick was really good, if he really got on my case, the audience would sometimes boo him. Actually hiss a little bit and boo. And it kind of hurt his feelings. I said “that’s – you’re really doing a good job.” Bud Abbott was relentless on, on Lou Costello. Just relentless – he – didn’t show any humanity or – but you believed him. And people believed my brother too so when really gets – he’d do this one litany, about five or six lines in a row, when we were recording an album in St. Louis and he said “you’re stupid. You’re dumb. You’re not a man. You’ve never done anything right. You’re a failure. Da da da da.” And he finished up, he ran out of things and – and “You’ll never amount to anything.” And I said, “Yeah, and mom liked you best.” It was like the – and just the audience fell apart. Don’t know where it came from. So it – we have one enduring, uh, idea that will always live on with the Smothers Brothers, that mom always liked you best. We’re the universal, uh, feeling that every child, every sibling has had somewhere along the line. Or who did she like best? And that became kind of a little mantra.

Joan Rivers: What happened was, for me, I was talking about myself, but I wanted to talk about other things that the whole culture exploded of celebrity.  And all these wonderful people that had absolutely feet of clay.  And it was wrong, and it was stupid to worship a fat lady like Elizabeth Taylor when she was fat.  Say she’s fat!  It’s ok. I was the first one to come out with the Elizabeth Taylor’s fat jokes.  If I heard one more person say, “She’s the most beautiful woman in the world,” she’s the most beautiful three women in the world at this point.

Joan Benny: My father was a very good friend of Harry Truman, when Harry Truman was in the White House.  And my father went to visit him.  And they used to play duets, cause Truman played the piano.  And they loved to play duets together.  So my father goes to the White House, and he’s carrying his violin case, and he gets there, and the guard – security, of course, says, “Mr. Benny, I hate to ask you this but I have to.  What are you carrying in that case?  And my father to be funny said, “a machine gun.”  And the guard said, “Oh thank God, I thought it might be your violin.”